Terrebonne levee tax deserves support

Wednesday

Dec 5, 2012 at 3:22 PM

You can help local flood protection, and all you have to do is vote.The most important piece of flood protection in place or planned for our region is the Morganza-to-the-Gulf hurricane-protection system.

You can help local flood protection, and all you have to do is vote.The most important piece of flood protection in place or planned for our region is the Morganza-to-the-Gulf hurricane-protection system.That series of levees and floodgates will eventually offer significant protection to huge areas of Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes.Unfortunately, although it has been winding through the federal bureaucracy for decades, officials still unsure whether it is any closer to getting any federal money for its completion.What it does have is a sizeable local and state investment, money that has allowed millions in planning, design and construction on Morganza. The local levee district has accomplished much of this work already and needs a way to accelerate the process.That work has already paid off.There were signs earlier this year that the Morganza — even the parts that have been put in place to date — made a difference and shielded some in our region from higher water.To speed up the work and increase its effectiveness, local officials are asking for a half-cent sales tax in Terrebonne Parish.The money generated by the tax, more than $300 million over the next 28 years, would go primarily toward building the levee system. Of that money, about $190 million is planned for construction. The rest of the money will be used for operations and maintenance after the complex system is in place.The plan is solid. The tax will come with a sunset provision that will end it after 28 years, at which time the Terrebonne Levee District's property tax will pay for operations and maintenance.The federal government's extended inaction has left local people and businesses with a stark choice: Do nothing to protect ourselves or take what action we can with the money we can afford to spend.The latter is obviously the preferable choice.Morganza will not be a protection from all future storms. What it will be, though, is a protection system that — had it been in place — would have protected us from the floodwaters we have seen over the past several decades with frightening regularity.A direct hit by a powerful or slow-moving storm could still pose the devastating danger it always has.But with Morganza in place, the local experts predict, a glancing blow from a storm more than 100 miles away will no longer flood thousands of homes.Local people have long lived with the realization that every storm season could bring a terrible calamity. A significant flood-protection system will not eliminate that fact. It should, though, lessen the risk without imposing an unrealistic burden on local people or businesses.A sales tax will add to the cost of local purchases, but it will also be shouldered by people who live outside of Terrebonne but shop here. That means people throughout our region, many of whom will share in the protection provided by Morganza, will help pay for it.In a perfect world, perhaps, the federal government would be lending a helping hand to protect the area. Rather than simply waiting for what ought to happen, though, we can use this opportunity to move ahead on a strong local action in the meantime.Go vote Saturday and support the half-cent Morganza sales tax.

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